I’ve heard about this recent trend saying the future is video content strategy for business. At NuZoo it’s not the future, it’s now.
For the past several years we’ve been producing educational, marketing, branding and corporate videos that have taken the place of traditional communications vehicles. Many of our clients have transitioned from printed materials, conferences, classroom educational, traditional PR and marketing vehicles like direct mail, press releases, and annual meetings to online video. Face-to-face interactions, while still popular, have become second to video.
Our experience as a digital agency has taught us that not having a video strategy in your marketing plan is almost crazy, especially with the increased popularity of branded videos. In addition, both content and marketing strategies rely heavily on videos and will continue to do so in the future. In a time and place where online presence is key for survival a strong video content strategy is a must.
When you’re trying to connect with a customer it can be challenging to cut through all the noise that is inevitable in the online world.
Videos are the solution to this. They’re a quick and efficient storytelling tool that gives a business a unique identity. Video allows the customer to feel engaged and is a great means of communication. We have evolved into a society that no longer needs to meet in-person or even have an office workspace; all you need is a laptop and Internet to connect with a colleague.
Research done by Invodo says people are willing to watch a video 60% of the time and, more than three out of five consumers will spend up to two minutes watching a video educating themselves about the product they’re going to buy; 37% will watch up to three minutes.
The easy access provided by videos allows your business to have an impact on the audience in a short period of time.
Google is the number one search engine and YouTube is number two. If your YouTube video has high rankings it is more likely to appear in organic search results linked to your product or service. Overall if you have a quality video content strategy and dedication then you’ll appear higher on Google’s organic searches.
However, when you are looking to create a video for your business or company you need to have a clear idea of what you want and how you wish to impact your audience. This is where NuZoo comes in. At the ‘Zoo we pride ourselves in creating innovative content for our clients that will demonstrate the power behind videos.
Contact NuZoo Media to work on your video content strategy!
Since its launch in 2011 Google Plus has been fighting to become a strong social media toolkit. The following are pros and cons of using Google Plus as a marketing tool for your business:
Pros of Using Google Plus
First and foremost as a business owner you should keep in mind that all companies small and large alike must have a strong online presence. According to marketing psychologist Martin Shervington, using Google Plus can give you an advantage on search rankings. If your company’s Google Plus page is constantly active, updated and read it’s more likely that it will appear on a person’s search for your area of expertise and or product.
Part of having Google Plus is being able to create “hangouts” and “circles.” Hangouts enable communication with your audience; you can video chat or instant message each other without having to leave the Google Plus page. Be it present or potential clients as well as business partners, Google hangouts give room for a more personalized online relationship.
Circles on the other hand facilitate finding and reaching your target market. When you make a circle, you’re putting people into a specific group that you create. For instance, NuZoo might create a circle for affordable housing or telecom, both industries that we serve. But we might also create a circle for video professionals so we can share info and communicate with other video producers. The key to using circles is controlling what posts you see from each circle you make; as the creator you are able to put a limit on how many posts from each circle appear on your company’s stream page. This is search engine optimization at its most basic: the more content with your key words in your circles — even from other people in your circle — makes it more likely that someone searching Google will find you.
Cons of Using Google Plus
According to the DMR (Digital Marketing Stats Resource Center) only 13% of small businesses use Google Plus and an unknown number of business pages are also present. Meaning you might not be able to measure how much you’re being found, and how big the market on Google Plus is for the products or services that your company provides.
Google Plus boasts of having a network of 540 million active users (statistic which has not been updated since 2014). But Google owns YouTube, and everyone who wants to comment or post on YouTube appears on Google Plus, whether they are active or not. DMR 2015 research shows only 4 to 6 million users have actually made a public post.
Last but not least is how complicated Google Plus can be; just because it can have an extremely good effect on your company’s organic searches doesn’t mean the end result is going to be a positive one. In one place there are tools for photos, messaging, streams, videos, groups and hangouts. But if not used correctly or consistently Google Plus can turn out to be a waste of time and effort.
Google Reputation
On a final note something that can be both a pro and con about Google Plus is every company or person has their very own “Google reputation.” This includes the comments you post on YouTube videos, your blog posts, and comments on other blogs make up a profile of you.
Google uses this information to create an image of you (person or business). It then uses this to identify who you are regardless of what tool you use.
Depending on your online activity, Google might conclude that your company and page is trustworthy or not, and whether or not it should appear in its search results.
But remember that branding is still the key to making your company stand out. Branding involves creating a name and image for a product in the consumer’s mind.
Branded Video Views Soar
A study done by Reelseo determined that in the past year branded video views have gone up 73%; that’s over 2.9 billion views since September 2014.
Branded videos are the visuals used to create a connection or relationship between the consumer and whatever product or service your business is offering.
This can mean everything from a Webinar explaining how to use or build your product, to testimonials of clients sharing their experience with your company, to a video of a company event. Either way you are creating your brand’s image in the viewers mind and letting them know why and how your business or product is the best choice out there.
At NuZoo, we know that creating a vision of your product or service in the public’s mind is the trickiest part of marketing today.
Your videos should create awareness, affinity and purchase intent for your brand. That’s the best way branded videos can help your business.
Branded Video Research
Research done by ShutterStock on branded videos says:
When someone looks for something online they are more likely to click on a video
96% of people are more likely to open an email with a video link
60% of all the data in the world is videos
As of 2014 36% of all videos watched are advertisements
Theses statistics aren’t hard to believe, with social media portals and instant messaging being as popular as they are. Not having a brand video to send out in these portals sounds almost crazy.
In addition, Single Grain Analytics found that 52% of shoppers admit that watching versus reading makes them more confident when purchasing a product or service.
Originality and creativity are your best friends when looking for connectivity with your audience.
At NuZoo our main goal is to get you the best results by having innovative ideas and using them to increase the engagement with your target audience.
We work to give you innovative videos that stay true to your brand, are goal-oriented and give you a strong, memorable visual of your company, products and services.
Contact NuZoo Media and let us produce your branded video!
Blog posts are a great part of content marketing. It does a lot for your business including increasing traffic, building trust with customers and humanizing your business.
Most importantly, it informs your customers about your products/services. However, blogging requires planning just like all other marketing efforts. Here are some helpful tips that can get you ahead of the game.
Post on a Consistent Basis
It’s all about timing. According to Todaymade, most blogs fail after a few months only because they failed to be consistent. Have a schedule for your blog posts. Plan the amount of time you give yourself to generate an article and what days of the week you will post. For example, you can plan to produce three items a week and spend two days on each blog. If you create a pattern, you appear more organized and professional to your audience. Blogging consistently can help generate more traffic through SEO.
Bloggers Who Specialize
It would be great to have everyone at your company write blog posts. However, there’s the quality verses quantity issue. Producing fewer high quality articles rather than a bunch of unthoughtful articles is more effective and beneficial to your company. There are about 200 ranking factors in Google’s Algorithm according to Backlinko for high quality content. A couple of employees should write about what they know. In effect, experts are writing about their expertise, which Google values. These bloggers can learn all of the tactics and spend time learning the ropes of successful blogging.
Plan Your Topics Ahead of Time
You don’t want to come into work wasting time on searching for an article topic. Create a blog plan way ahead of time. Think about the topics you want to cover for the next few months. Ask yourself what your customers are interested in and what you think they need to know. Always keep topics relevant to your audience and not just your company. Have a variety of topics each week. For example, you can plan four SEO articles a month and post one each week. At NuZoo Media, we have a blog section called Biz Buzz where we write about fun and interesting topics such as local events. We post an article about every other week. This changes up the routine and keeps the blog interesting.
Piggyback off of Previous Articles
What does piggyback mean? It’s using a subject or a sub-topic from a previous article and creating an entire article on that topic. Things change so rapidly today that yesterday’s news is often obsolete or has dramatically changed in a short time. Revisit old posts, and create new, up-to-date articles. If you look back at your articles you might see little paragraphs that could be branched into several new articles. This also creates more room for in-bound links which is linking to articles you have written previously which can help with SEO.
I’ve heard about this recent trend saying the future is video content strategy for business. At NuZoo it’s not the future, it’s now.
We’ve written before about the importance of 
Blog posts are a great part of content marketing. It does a lot for your business including increasing traffic, building trust with customers and humanizing your business.